Touch Sensitive was picked up for publication by Amazon Scout, and it’s a doozy of a non-stop suspense thriller!
Let’s start this blog off with the synopsis, to get you in the mood:
John Ballard is a PI with a condition. One in a million born with a sensitivity. He absorbs the memories of whatever or whoever he touches. The cops call him in to help on a case, a gruesome murder that only someone with his gift can solve. But absorbing the memories of the mutilated body is going to send John’s life spiralling out of control. Force him to cross every line, betray everyone who trusts him. But he wants to find the killer – needs to find her – because the one thing that’s clear about the woman behind the crime, is that she’s a sensitive too…
And it goes way off the deep end from there…
John deals with the depths of depravity on an all too regular basis, let alone dealing with his sensitivity, which he can’t control. The slightest touch from a person, and he’s thrown into a seizure…
Suddenly there’s a glimmer of hope, the killer seems to be just like him, but she can do things with her gift that he could never imagine possible.
He resolves that he needs to find her, before the police. And that’s where things take quite the turn. A game of cat and mouse, betrayal, a rollercoaster ride of emotion that doesn’t let up until the very end.
As you can probably tell, I’m very proud of this little suspense thriller, especially given how it began…
Touch Sensitive was just a logline, the vaguely high concept idea of a detective that’s psychic by touch.
Obviously, nobody bought it, nobody wanted an outline let alone a script. It was a theoretical series that had no real depth to it beyond a very basic idea.
So it sat in the back of my mind until half way through this year, when it came back to the forefront somehow, possibly because I bought a Microsoft Surface to write on (rather than the damn heavy mobile workstation I do ‘actual work’ on, that can edit 4K RAW video without a sweat, but weighs about as much as I do) and, of course, given that it’s a tablet, the screen is touch sensitive.
Sometimes you’ve got to take inspiration wherever you can find it…
I outlined, far too fast, it maybe only took a day or two.
That outline came in at maybe 5000 words, and scared me a little, because it was fully formed, the non-stop twists and turns, the emotional turmoil, the tragically damaged, morally-grey-area-surfing lead. All of it. In those two days it went from a vague notion to a fully formed story, that was destined to be 90,000+ words, and I had to write it. Then and there.
At somewhere between 5,000-7,500 words a day, it took just over two weeks to get the first draft out. I couldn’t stop, the story was intoxicating. I needed to see it through to the end.
It sat in a draw for the rest of the summer, I was too proud of it, there was no way it could be as good as it felt to write.
Another two drafts have happened since then, little nagging bits switched around, whole elements ripped out and replaced with better, smarter happenings, deeper characters and so on. Which brings us to now, with the book just a month or so from release.
This wouldn’t be happening without the support of you guys. Kindle Scout was as much about popularity as it was writing a good narrative, and I’m so very humbled by the response from all you guys. Thank you so much, and I truly hope you enjoy it.
